Prominent UK pro-Palestine activists guilty of breaching protest conditions | UK news
Two prominent leaders of the Palestinian solidarity movement in the UK have been found guilty of breaching protest conditions.
Ben Jamal, 62, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and Chris Nineham, 63, vice president of the Stop the War Coalition, were charged with failing to comply with conditions imposed for a protest on January 18, 2025. They were later charged with public order offences.
The January 18 protest was one of 34 national pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
On Wednesday, Jamal and Nineham were found guilty following a trial at Westminster magistrates’ court. In his decision, Judge Sternberg said that the conditions imposed were lawful and necessary, and that both defendants clearly knew them.
Jamal was also found guilty twice of inciting other protesters to violate police conditions. Sternberg said Jamal’s speech at the protest constituted incitement because it was “a suggestion, persuasion and encouragement” that encouraged a violation of the terms.
“While protest rights are fundamental, they are not absolute and do not permit violations of legally imposed conditions,” the judge said in his decision.
The Metropolitan police have come under severe criticism for their handling of the protest in central London, where more than 70 people were arrested.
Union leaders were among legal experts, MPs and colleagues calling for an independent investigation into what they described as “oppressive and heavy-handed policing” at the January 18 demonstration.
Previous marches, which took place after Israeli forces launched an assault on Gaza following an Israeli offensive led by Hames on October 7, 2023, had been largely uneventful. Relations between the police and the organizers, including the PSC, were thought to be cordial.
Campaigners said they wanted the march to start or end at the BBC’s headquarters in Portland Place to protest the public broadcaster’s coverage of the war in Gaza. They said the area had been used twice before without incident and that they accepted the conditions set by the police, but then claimed the Metropolitan police had imposed an “unprecedented exclusion zone” by reneging on an agreement on the starting point.
The Met said it had imposed conditions on the protest after taking into account the “cumulative impact” on London’s Jews and that the march took place near synagogues. Officers said they believe there was a coordinated effort to violate those conditions.
A series of critical letters have been sent to the force, including former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, accusing flower-carrying protesters of breaking police lines; Video footage showed them initially being waved at by officers.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the court on Wednesday morning. As the judge delivered the verdicts, the public gallery was packed with supporters of the defendants, including Corbyn.
